I know this is an old thread but I happened to read the post by texasjgc and had to reply. I recently left teaching at ITT (game design dept) to teach at AI. Let me chime in and say that there is no comparison between ITT and AI. AI is a superior school with higher standards. ITT Tech is a degree mill. They're bottom feeders. And their standards are a joke, if you can crawl in off the street and draw a stick figure you'll pass their game design program. In fact, you can graduate there with a pathetic D grade. There were some students who didn't even have their GED!

My advice, research your shool of interest, talk to people who've actually graduated from the school and find out if the students are actually being placed in the industry - not at UPS or Kinko's. And please don't just listen to the recruiters - some of them do in fact lie or stretch the truth without the school's consent - some can be weasels. It's up to you to do your due diligence.

I haven't been at AI long enough to say if their game design program is steller compared to other schools, but I've heard and seen good things so far. Their lab equipment is top notch, and my sense is that they actually do care about their students.

One more thing. AI is accredited but that doesn't mean your classes will transfer to a university. There are many different accreditation bodies out there. ITT Tech is also "accredited" but those classes also will not transfer to a state university. Be aware that these are technical schools that focus on specific subjects. The universities have a different philosophy of the "well rounded student" in all subjects. So you spend two or three years taking humanities, english and math before getting your core classes. Whereas at a tech school you get to jump right in to your core classes without too much of the other crap you already had in high school.

I started the Pittsburgh Art Institute Online and just wanted to say it's amazing. The online program is very strenuous and requires a lot to stay on task. I'm glad I picked the AIO because it allows me to have a life.

Savannah College of Art and Design is a pretty solid choice for Game Development. I am about to graduate from here and everyone I applied to has heard of my college, visited the campus (ie: Activision, BioWare, EA, Digital Domain, Blizzard Entertainment and many others) and highly respects it. It will cost you an arm and a leg to go here but if you have the passion and dedication, I would highly recommend it.

Ringling College of Art and Design is the number one computer animation school in the U.S. Their Game Art and Design major is included in the school's Computer Animation department. Their curriculum is unparalleled and they recently licensed Crytek's CryEngine2; which if you didn't already know, was used to make Crysis, which may be the most graphically advanced game on the market today.

Ringling has ties to a lot of major gaming companies including EA, LucasArts, Activision, Bioware, and others. Additionally Ringling is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD; http://nasad.arts-accredit.org) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS; http://www.sacscoc.org). I am currently attending Ringling and am part of it's first Game Art and Design class, I cannot recommend it enough. Oh and Ringling equips each in coming student with a brand new MacBook Pro to use through the 4 years, just another bonus.

I can't say with certainty that the Guildhall Art creation track is amazing because I have not yet completed it, in fact I was just accepted!

But, I do like their philosophy and encourage you to check it out. It's a master's degree though, so comparing it to undergrad degrees doesn't really work. As they post on their website, it's a program that doesn't teach people to be artists, it teaches artists to be "game artists", you need to have the necessary aptitude before hand and they'll teach you the rest.

Also, one thing to check out if you are really interested in getting into the industry, is the professors at any given school. Have they ever been involved in making an actual game? Have any of them shipped a popular title? Do they still work in the industry? Ask lots of questions.

Honestly, I would think it's hard to teach how to be a game artists if you have not been a game artist. It's a relatively new field and taking a purely academic approach with professors who have just been art teachers, or just been programming teachers, sounds a little naive (not that there is anything wrong w/ these teachers, but if they have never worked on making a game then...?). From my research on schools I found out that guildhall was created because of the demand of the Dallas/Ft Worth game industry needing more "professionals" who know exactly how to be an effective game designer.

*hops off soap box*
There are lots of other good schools out there, digipen, full sail seem to be good schools, but again I can't say, I didn't research them as much as I did the Guildhall and that doesn't make me an expert either . I also have a friend who went to Art Institute (I myself even considered it, but opted for a master's instead of another BA~ I have a BA in Studio art and a BA in Creative Writing). She commented that if you can be in class it is a million times better than any online course.

And btw, if you want to be in the Industry, and I mean really want to be in the industry, everywhere I have read says you need to work as hard as you possibly can to that end because of how competitive it is.

I would suggest working your a** off, instead of looking for a program that's so open, you can practically slack off and not even show up to class and still pass through it... Just my opinion though..

I want to start out saying that I work at The Art Institute of Phoenix. The actual ground campus. I don't know how anyone goes online for an art degree but some people are able to do it really well. If you are looking at doing Game Art for a Bachelors degree than the Art Institute of Phoenix has a great program. We were the first college to offer a degree in Game art back in 1996. We teach Game art. That is different than colleges that teach one or two classes in art and the rest are in design. So if you want to be an environmental artist, texture artist or Character designer for games than this program is for you. If you want to learn programming then the other schools are a great fit. Our program is also a Bachelors degree. If you have any questions check out our website: http://www.artinstitutes.edu/phoenix/ or call 602-331-7500 and ask for Josh. This is for a traditional campus game art degree.

Hey every one, I just was looking around for good colleges or institudes that may be top 5 in game art and design. I guess mostly concept art is where I think i want to follow but I am not sure which schools are up there with the best. Also If their grads make it into the career fields. Since I am active duty in the the Air Force I can't be on campus on most of these colleges that req me to be personally there. So I found Westwood college online. I trying with them in their program for game arts. I wish to know if any of you have good things to say about them or there reputation as a college for game art. Also if you recomend a college to me make sure it's for online classes. TY ahead of time.